Knowledge about individual personalities may enable producers to better understand why some animals fail to cope under standard management practices, like trailer rides, and are more likely to become ill, according to UBC News.

The study concluded that timid calves experienced heightened stress levels and had a more compromised immune system compared to animals who were considered more sociable animals.

According to researchers (Lecorps et al., 2018), these results suggest that pessimistic calves react more intensely to the emotional challenge of a trailer ride. This may be because they had worse expectations of the situation than other calves.

To make stressful conditions more bearable for these animals, try to characterize calf personalities at around three weeks of age. This may help identify animals that are most likely to make this transition smoothly and to identify calves that would benefit from additional assistance.